True, embellished and fictional stories for your amusertainment

Last week I bought a new phone. The battery on my very first smartphone was no longer holding a charge, so it was time to upgrade. Having never replaced a smartphone before, I didn’t know what to expect. The tech did his part and then instructed me on how to do mine – adding back apps and ringtones. With simple instructions, I was ready to go.

On the way home, I started adding my apps (no I wasn’t driving). Normally, this is something I would do at home while connected to wi-fi but I was too excited to wait. As the apps were downloading, I started receiving a flurry of texts from my service provider with warnings about my data usage. The texts were coming so fast I couldn’t keep up with them: “You have used 75% of your data…90%…100% – additional charges will apply… whoa – mega charges will apply… keep going – we’ve hit the mother-lode of overages…etc.”

When I realized what was happening, I panicked, yelling at my phone while trying to stop the downloads. In a matter of minutes, the damage was done. Stephen called our service provider, explained what happened and fortunately, they helped us out.

So far this was Stephen’s only interest in the new phone. Happy with his old one, he was determined not to make a change. However, as I was completing the set-up on my new phone, I ran across something that caught his attention. Users now have the option of selecting an Australian or British accent for Siri. As soon as Stephen heard that, he grabbed his phone and gave his “new girlfriend” the British accent of his dreams. He seems much closer to his phone now – I even find them having private conversations at odd hours.

Marvin, the depressed robot with a British accent that doesn’t sound like my phone

My Siri is male. I selected the Australian accent because the British voice reminded me of Marvin, the depressed robot on Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

In any event, my new phone and I are quite happy together. The same goes for Stephen and his old phone (with the new accent).